The Future Potential of Coal was Discussed in ICCI 2013 Organization and Advisory Committee Meeting

During the second organization and advisory committee meeting of the ICCI 2013, which will be organized by Sektörel Fuarcılık, the future potential of coal in electricity generation, in Turkey was discussed.

At the second organization and advisory committee meeting, within the frame of the ICCI 2013, the 19th International Energy and Environment Fair and Conference, which will be organized by Sektörel Fuarcılık, the future potential of coal in electricity generation, in Turkey was discussed.  Mr. Mustafa Aktaş, Managing Director of Turkish Coal Administrations, Mr. Ahmet Ocak, Head of Department of Electricity of EPDK (EMRA - Energy Market Regulatory Authority), Mr. Halil Alış, Managing Director of Energy Generation Inc., Dr. Selahattin Çimen, Chairman of the Executive Council and the Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, and Mr. Süleyman Budak, President of the Board of Directors of Sektörel Fuarcılık, were present at the meeting held at Divan Hotel.

Dr. Selahattin Çimen, Chairman of the Executive Council and the Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, expressed in his opening speech that the local coal resources in Turkey were not used efficiently.  Explaining that although they have spent at lot of effort as the Ministry on this issue for the last 8 to 10 years, it would be difficult to say that the required speed has been achieved in terms of development, Dr. Çimen said:  “However, the latest courageous steps taken by the new administration of TKI (TCA - Turkish Coal Administration) making us believe further that the local coal will reach its well deserved position in the Turkish Electricity Generation Industry.  Therefore, during the years to follow, we shall be discussing the local coal more, in Turkey.

On the other hand, Mr. Süleyman Budak, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sektörel Fuarcılık, has conveyed information on the latest situation of the organizations for the main conference.  The latest news clarified for ICCI 2013 conference organization, are as follows:

Halls 9, 10 and 11 will be open to be used, and together with the sub-participants, 250 companies and 5 countries (Germany, China, Denmark, Sweden, and Taiwan) will exhibit on an area of 12 thousand square meters.

This year, the first collaboration of the Con Energy and E-world companies participating each year in Germany, with a large participating group on smart energy and urban distribution, will be realized in hall 11.

This year, procurement commissions 107 countries were invited over for bilateral meetings.  Participations by 12 countries (Germany, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, Croatia, England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Madagascar and Uzbekistan) have already been confirmed.

Feedbacks African countries have started to arrive recently.  Those expected to arrive are countries with great potential for purchasing.  As both the Turkish and the local companies to participate have selling potentials, B2B meetings will be favored more this year.  Until now, almost 90 applications have been made for bilateral meetings and nearly 200 business meetings have been arranged.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Murat Mercan, Assistant to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey, Dr. Fatih Birol, Head Economist of the International Energy Agency, and Mr. Udo Paschedag, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Climate Preservation, Environment, and Agriculture of North Rhine-Westphalia will attend the conference as invited speakers.

Association / Institution Session Titles are Listed as Follows:

The Federation of the German Entrepreneurs` Union: Connection Capacities of the Renewable Energy Resources to the Transmission Network

Special Session by the German-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry:

Con Energy Special Session: Energy Trading and IT Solutions

ELDER Special Session: Transmission Sector in Free Market

Institute of Energy Law Research Institute Special Session: Electricity Market Law and Evaluation

Energy Trading Association Special Session: Retail Electricity Trade and Competition on Electricity Trading

EPDK (EMRA) Special Session: Developments in the Electricity Market, Planned Works and Targets

ETKB Special Session:

GENSED Special Session: Latest developments in PV Technology and the Regulations

HESIAD Special Session: The Status of Hydroelectric Energy in Turkey - The Aims and the Bottlenecks

IMKB Special Session: Energy Stock Exchange

Li-Der Special Session: License-free Electricity Generation

MMG Special Session: The Potential of Coal in Electrical Generation in Turkey

MUSIAD Special Session: Energy Sector the Investors` Perspective

Chambers of Commerce Common Session: Energy Production in Industry - Efficient Utilization of Energy and Supply of Energy at Reasonable Costs

TUREB Special Session: Wind Energy in Turkey and its Future

TÜRKOTED Special Session: Turkish Cogeneration and Clean Energy Technologies

TÜSİAD Special Session: Natural Gas Market

Waste Management, Waste Technologies and Energy Waste

Natural Gas and Petrol

Evaluations with respect to the World, EU and the Turkish Energy Sector

Evaluations with respect to Electricity Market

Management and Maintenance in Power Stations

Energy Law and the Awards by Arbitration

Financing of Energy Projects

Energy Efficiency

Energy and the Environment

Nuclear Power

New Technologies

Evaluations with respect to Renewable Energy Markets, Problems and Suggestions for Solutions

Renewable Energy - Wind

Renewable Energy - Solar

Renewable Energy - Geothermal

Following the opening speeches of the ICCI 2013 Organization and Advisory Committee meeting, the future potential of the coal in electricity generation has been put under the microscope.  Mustafa Aktaş, Managing Director of the Turkish Coal Enterprises (TCA - TKİ) made a presentation titled “The Future Potential of Coal in the Turkish Electrical Power Generation, as Ahmet Ocak, Head of the Electricity Department of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA - EPDK) presented “Developments in and Assessments on the Turkish Electricity Market.

Stating that Turkey had a coal reserve of 14.1 billion tons, 90.7% of which is lignite and the rest is bituminous coal, Mustafa Aktaş, Managing Director of the Turkish Coal Enterprises (TCE - TKİ) said:  “We are trying to install technologies with almost zero emission, in power stations working on coal.

“We need to benefit the Nuclear Power”

Giving examples on the world resources in terms of power generation, Aktaş expressed that the share of nuclear power in power generation worldwide was 5 percent, as this rate was 12 percent in the European Union.  Stressing on the fact that the nuclear power has a share of 76 percent in energy resources in France, Aktaş continued:  “There is a nuclear power station operating in Armenia, just across the border Turkey.  There is nothing to be said as, ‘It is OK if it is outside our border, but no good if it is on our side of the border.’  We need to benefit this source as well, taking the necessary precautions.  Naturally, after the earthquake and the following tsunami in Japan, the use of nuclear power was reduced by 44% there, followed by a reduction of 70% in Germany and of 4.3% in the global scale.  I believe that after the immediate affect of the disaster in Japan is over, nuclear power generation will continue in these places, as well.

“We are obliged to use fossil fuel”

Assessing the roles of other resources in power generation worldwide, and stating that hydroelectricity had a share of 6 percent, coal 30 percent, petroleum 33 percent, natural gas 24 percent and the renewable sources had a share of 2 percent, Aktaş continued:  “No one is against the renewable resources, however, despite the an increase of 25.8 percent in wind power and an increase of 86.3 percent in solar power generation in 2011, renewable power resources only had a share of 2 percent in global power generation.  Finally, according to the projections made, it can be seen that we are obliged to use the 3 fossil fuels until 2030’s.

“Tendency towards the use of coal will increase”

Saying that the tendency towards the use of coal will increase in the 2030’s, Aktaş pointed out that petrol is more of a commercial object, than the other fossil fuels.  He then continued:  “It is foreseen that around 20 trillion kWh of power will be generated fossil fuels in 2035.  When we consider the 3 fossil fuels, 6.3 billion tons the coal are consumed they are mined, as 1.1 billion tons are used for commercial purposes.  A total of 7.4 billion tons of coal is produced in the world.  Taking natural gas into account, 2.6 trillion cubic meters of the natural gas are consumed at they are explored, and 800 billion cubic meters are used for commercial purposes.  On the other hand, 12.9 billion barrels of petroleum are consumed they are explored, as 13.5 billion barrels are available for commercial purposes.  We believe that, among the three fossil fuels, tendency towards the use of coal will increase in the 2030’s.

“The capacity of lignite is 8,140 MW among the 57,243 MW of installed power capacity”

Stating that Turkey has an installed power capacity of 57,243 MW, Aktaş said that the current power stations working on lignite have a total capacity of 8,140 MW.  Saying “The share of the lignite based installed power is 14 percent of the total installed power”, Aktaş continued making statements on TKI (TCA)’s position in the market:  “TKI’s share of lignite among all the lignite reserves in Turkey is around 2.6 billion tons.  In other words, we have a share of 21 percent. However, considering Turkey consuming 104 million tons of coal, 24.

“We are planning to install 9.2 billion US$ worth of power stations”

Stating that there was 537 million tons of coal reserve in the three areas, namely Adana, Bursa and Manisa, which they plan to tender for and to start operating power plants in 2012, Aktaş continued:  “Total capacity of the power plants will be 320 MW, their total annual generating capacity will be 8.6 billion kW/h, and the total investment will mount up to 3 and a half US Dollars.  This investment will be made by the private sector and we are expecting a return of 336 million TL these investments”.  Aktaş also added that four power stations with coal reserves of 482 million tons, capable of generating 14 billion kWh of electricity a total capacity of 2 thousand 250 MW, in Kütahya, Bingöl, Muğla and Manisa were also planned for 2013, with a total investment of 9.2 billion US dollars.

“It is aimed to increase the domestic coal based capacity to 30 thousand MW”

Indicating that Turkey had a bigger potential in energy, then its normal growth, Aktaş said:  “In 2010, 213 billion kW/h electricity was used.  While this figure was 228 billion kW/h in 2011, it increased to 241 billion kW/h in 2012.  In other words, Turkey has a growth potential of around 8.5 percent in energy, which is above its normal growth.  In the governments 2023 targets, the capacity of electricity is foreseen to be increased to 100 thousand MW.  When the current capacity is considered, the natural gas stations have a share of up to 48 percent.  Share of the domestic coal is around 16 percent.  In the imported coal, we can reach up to 23 percent level.  Thus, it is aimed to increase the capacity based on the local coal to 30 thousand MW levels, out of the 100 thousand MW capacity aimed for 2023.”

“TAQA agreement will be discussed in the parliament”

Following a question asked, Halil Alış, Managing Director of Enerji Üretim Anonim Şirketi (EÜAŞ) – Power Generation Inc. (PGIC) said that the intergovernmental agreement signed for the partnership of TAQA; The Electricity Generating Board of the United Arab Emirates, would be discussed in the parliament in about a month and a half. Explaining that a company would be established with 65 percent partnership of TAQA and 35 percent partnership of EÜAŞ, in order to manage the power plant planned to be built in Afşin-Ebistan region, Aktaş also pointed out that with the 12 billion US dollars investment to start operating in 2023, Turkey would save 6 billion US dollars each year in natural gas imports.

Ahmet Ocak, Head of Electricity Department of the Energy Market Regulation Board (EPDK) on the other hand, while talking on “Developments in Turkish Electricity Market and Assessments”, said:  “It is getting important to replace the coal power stations with renewable energy power stations.”

Saying that when Turkey’s current situation and the scenarios on its future are considered, it would only have the capacity to answer for the demands, Ocak continued as follows:  “Dependence on foreign resources will never decrease.  When we look at the electricity consumption in OECD countries, it currently remains at nearly 8 thousand kWh per person.  On the other hand, the consumption figure in Turkey is still 2-2 thousand 500 kWh per person.  However, this demand is bound to increase in 30 years time.  When all is considered, unless new resources (such as shale gas) are found and these projects are not initiated, it will not be possible to talk of independence foreign resources.  The ratio of dependence can only be kept constant or reduced slightly.  In order to reduce this ratio, we need to use the national resources properly.  Thus, we need to realize the investments on renewable resources at once.”

Mentioning the importance in reaching the 82 thousand MW target point in 10 years projection, Ocak said “Of course, there are some high capacity applications made on this content, but have they been realized?  No matter how optimistic one may be, even if you have received a license, investments of a billion dollars have been halted.  Disregarding whose fault that could be, it is possible to face such problems.  It is not possible to avoid this.  That is why the investors need to be careful.”

“It is necessary to obtain a preliminary license”

Expressing that they have also come across investors who have not managed to implement their projects, although they have made investments, Ocak continued as follows:  “It is not important to apply for 70-80 thousand MW projects, what matters is to follow the project through.  This is one of the reasons why a new law is being prepared.  That is why, it is important to receive a preliminary license, but it is also important, what will happen after receiving the preliminary license.  I can become in operable in this sector, within a year or so.  We can face such a situation.  Although there are some precautions against this, we shall see if we shall be able to succeed.”

Ocak continued as follows:  “In 2013, they applied to YEKDEM.  14 HEPS, 3 REPS, 6 geo-thermal and 15 biomass, 38 power stations in total.  Now, we have a new law being discussed in the parliament.  We have gathered all license applications under one demand.  Another important article of the law is the establishment of EPİAŞ.  With this, EPİAŞ is parting TEİAŞ; it even is becoming a structure which the private sector is becoming the partner of.  Istanbul Exchange Market will be one of the partners, and it will manage this conversion.  Formation of the legal entities, preparation of the trade registration gazette and the other regulations will be done by the Treasury, Istanbul Exchange Market and the Ministry, anyhow.  As EPİAŞ separates TEİAŞ, it will also have separate functions.”  As he continued, Ocak also stated that the license free electricity generation limit will be increased to 1 MW, and this will have positive affects on the wind and solar power investments.

Sektör Fuarcılık, the leading institution organizing Turkey’s biggest energy and environment conference, will organize the 19th International Energy and Environment Fair and Conference (ICCI 2013) on April 24th, 25th and 26th, at Istanbul Expo Centre.

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